No wonder rapists, eve-teasers go scot free

Mumbai: This explains why women are scared to go to the police stations, and why police fails to empathise with sexual assault victims. This also explains why crime against women don't show any sign of decline. Governments claim to have taken various steps in making women feel safe, but in reality this is nothing more than a lip service to the cause. Shockingly, Maharashtra police are woefully short of female cops, with a whopping 91 percent of posts lying vacant, the answer to a query under the Right To Information (RTI) Act has revealed. Such is the sorry state of affairs in the financial capital of India.

The strength of the female cops stands at 17,665, against the sanctioned strength of 2,06,922 as on December 2012, according to figures accessed by RTI activist Chetan Kothari.

The cumulative strength of female constables and police sub-inspectors is 14,403, against the sanctioned strength of 96,625.

"It's a very shocking revelation. On one hand, we talk about safety and security of women and on the other hand, there are very few police women. These vacancies must be filled up on a priority basis," Kothari said.

The Maharashtra police force has a total strength of nearly 1,80,000 and is headquartered in South Mumbai.

"Female complainants feel humiliated to explain their grievances at the police station before male cops. There is a need to recruit female cops at the earliest so that their presence can also be felt at stations," she said.

A police officer said that women not applying for jobs in the police force were one of the reasons for so many unfilled vacancies.

However, Singh suggested that the government should launch a special drive to encourage women to join the police force.

Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal was unavailable for comment.